[CFP] FITISPos International Journal/Special Issue, V. 9 (2022)

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected people’s health, societies and the global economy. It has also transformed ways of working and communicating in every field. From the beginning of the pandemic, translators and interpreters adjusted to new circumstances at a swift pace: professionals, academics and researchers adopted virtual platforms and equipment to adapt to new ways of providing services, collaborating, training and conducting research. This shift was accompanied by an increase in demand for translation and interpreting services in specific areas. In the public sector, which covers broad areas as education, immigration, social services, health, the judiciary and law enforcement, the demand for translation and interpreting services grew as governments needed to inform citizens rapidly and accurately about social and economic impact of pandemic, public health guidelines and updates in global developments. In the medical field, translators and interpreters embraced new practices to guarantee continued access to safe and high‑quality healthcare. In judicial settings, professionals collaborated to administer justice with the limitations imposed by the pandemic, as civil and criminal proceedings must continue. In this situation of urgency, transformation and increase in services, translators and interpreters played a key role and were able to quickly address new challenges in order to continue to provide adequate linguistic assistance and essential services to citizens and jurisdictions.

We welcome critical and empirical proposals for this special thematic issue on “Public Service Interpreting and Translation (PSIT) in the time of COVID-19: The impact of the pandemic on PSIT and its future developments”, to be published in April 2022. The guest editor invites contributions including but not limited to the following lines of research:

•         Effects of COVID-19 on PSIT in medical, social, educational, migratory, judicial and police settings.

•         Effects of COVID-19 on sign language interpreting for public services.

•         Changes in PSIT due to the constraints imposed by the pandemic.

•         Health and well-being of public service translators and interpreters in the time of COVID-19.

•         Government or institutional management of PSIT during the COVID‑19 health crisis.

•         Legal and judicial policy developments related to PSIT during the pandemic.

•         State of language access during the health crisis: translated materials and resources for immigrants.

•         Technological solutions and equipment for providing remote PSIT during the pandemic.

•         Improvements in PSIT quality during the pandemic.

•         Training, standards and certification developments for PSIT professionals during the pandemic.

•         Conducting research related to PSIT during the pandemic. 

Prospective authors are invited to send their proposals in the form of abstracts of 250‑350 words (excluding references) in MS Word format to the Guest Editor Samantha Cayron (samantha.cayron@unige.ch) by June 1, 2021.

Timeline for authors and important information

Language of abstract: Proposals are welcome in English, French or Spanish.

More information on authors’ guidelines will be provided upon acceptance of proposals.

•         Length of full paper: 5,000‑8,000 words

•         Abstracts (250‑350 words): June 1, 2021

•         Decision on accepted abstracts: July 5, 2021

•         Submission of full papers: January 10, 2022

•         Final versions of papers: March 15, 2022

•         Publication of special issue: April 2022

FITISPos International Journal/Special Issue, V. 9 (2022) | FITISPos International Journal (uah.es)